For pages with similar names, see Life Guards.
Life Guards are a type of heavy cavalry in Empire: Total War.
Description[]
The royal guard cavalrymen are all gentlemen, hand picked to protect the person of the sovereign.
Royal guards are elite, but they are also a court regiment where appearance is as important as fighting ability. As gentlemen they are hardly expected to associate with the common sort of soldier, and this does not make them popular or respected with the rest of the army. They are also often unloved by the general populace too, as they are the last line of defence for the royal family, and this may mean that they are sometimes required to turn their swords on their countrymen and put down domestic trouble.
Historically, perhaps the oddest sounding of the various royal guard cavalry regiments were the curiously named horse grenadier guards. Common sense would seem to indicate that these men would only ever get to throw their grenades once, before their horses took off at speed towards all points of the compass! In british service the Household Cavalry regiments did not, and do not, have sergeants: they have a rank "corporal of horse". The word "sergeant" has the same origins as "servant", and no gentleman, even a privat trooper, is ever a servant.
General Information[]
Life Guards are the British equivalents of Household Cavalry. For the most part, they possess identical statistics and differ only in appearance. Unlike most Household Cavalry and their equivalents, however, British Life Guards have an "Impetuous" morale rating by default. This is a cut above standard morale, and while this means that they are less likely to flee from a fight, it also means that they are also likely to disregard orders such as avoiding enemies, and will instead aggressively attack nearby opponents.